


New Worlds

by SeafoamSoul



Series: Worlds [3]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: F/M, Vampire AU, found family trope, we luv a good found family, weird family feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:15:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22399972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeafoamSoul/pseuds/SeafoamSoul
Summary: The holiday season approaches and brings its own struggles for you and Elias.
Relationships: Elias Samson/Original Character(s)
Series: Worlds [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1612198
Kudos: 2





	New Worlds

You hadn’t spent much time thinking about your lost family around the holidays, traditions lost along with them. It was easier to suppress those memories, those thoughts as you tried to survive undetected amongst the humans. Now, though, as you settled down with Elias, you couldn’t stop yourself from finally allowing those thoughts to come to the service. Thanksgiving was weeks away, and you were inundated with memories from your human life, surrounded by your family and all of their laughter and joy. It was a harsh contrast to how you had spent your more recent years navigating the world alone, forced to watch the humans around you celebrate the holidays with the same joy you used to feel.

At least this year you wouldn’t be alone. You had Elias with you, and that was more meaningful to you than he would ever know. As the holidays grew nearer, you spent more and more time with him, pressed against his side as he slept during the day, curled up on the couch with him in the evening. You two were practically attached at the hip, more so than usual. 

Which is why your behavior after Elias got off the phone with one of his friends was so startling for him.

The two of you were cuddled up on the couch together, each with a book in your hands. One of his arms was draped over your shoulders, pulling you even closer to him. It was peaceful, normal for the two of you, something you had come to treasure in your time spent with him. And then his phone rang, interrupting the peace and quiet that surrounded the two of you. 

Your enhanced hearing made it all too easy to hear the conversation Elias was having with his friend as he pulled himself away from you, shooting you a smile as he walked away to let you read in peace. You didn’t mean to eavesdrop, didn’t want to mess with his privacy, but at the mention of a Thanksgiving get together, you paused your reading to listen a little closer. 

The longer the conversation went on, the more you found yourself drawing your limbs in closer, folding in on yourself. You knew it was an overreaction spurred on purely due to the fact that you had been drowning in memories of the holidays with your own family. Hearing Elias set up a get together with his own friends, one that apparently happened every year, was proof that your nomadic vampire life was not as great as you had convinced yourself it was. Here Elias was, just as much a vampire as you (albeit slightly different) and he was able to have a family, friends, who allowed his holiday traditions to live on for eternity. And you weren’t even enough to convince any other nomadic vampires to let you tag along with them for longer than a couple days. 

When Elias finally hung up the phone, his soft footsteps making their way across the floor back to you, you fixed your eyes back on your book. He knew you heard the conversation with his friend, but he still explained to you the plans that were made. A group of his friends would drop by on Thanksgiving and they’d have a feast akin to those they had in their human lives. Everyone would bring their own favorite dishes and catch up, celebrate the holiday together. 

As he sat back down on the couch, arm moving to settle around your shoulders again, you stood up quickly, setting your book down on the coffee table in the same movement. With a forced smile you told Elias you would go for a walk and before he could ask if you wanted him to tag along you were halfway into the woods behind his house. 

Forgetting the almost hurt look on his face as you practically ran out of the house was hard, almost impossible, and it haunted you for the entirety of your walk. You knew you were overreacting, that there was a better way to respond to his news. Despite that, there was a part of you that was so hurt that he was able to maintain his humanity through his traditions with his family and friends while you were alone for so long, forced to navigate your new life with no one.

The longer you walked, the more you grieved for your lost family and friends, your lost holiday celebrations. You felt the peculiar prickle in your sinus cavities, a feeling you hadn’t experienced in a long time. The feeling you get right before you start crying. Of course, now there were no tears at all, only the uncomfortable dry prickling, causing you even more distress. Elias could cry, you had seen it when the two of you were comparing the differences in your physiology. It was just one more thing Elias had that you didn’t, and you felt the familiar pull of resentment deep in your chest. He didn’t deserve it, of course, Elias was the best thing that had happened to you since you woke up alone as a vampire all those years ago. Even still, the feeling continued to grow as you looped back toward his house.

You should’ve expected to see him standing on the back porch when you returned, his eyes scanning the woods closely to see you coming back. The look on his face was worried, mouth set in a grim line until he finally caught a flash of you between the trees. Immediately, his eyes softened and a smile pulled at the corner of his lips. Here he was, waiting for you with a smile while you spent hours starting to resent him. You didn’t deserve Elias, not even a little bit, but you let him pull you into his arms, allowed him to tuck your head under his chin and press a kiss to your hair. 

“Are you alright, princess?” he asked, voice as soft as his eyes were mere moments ago.

“I’m fine,” you brushed off his concern, easily slipping out of his arms. “Just wanted to breathe in the autumn air, ya know.”

“I could’ve gone with you,” Elias offered, following you into the house.

“Didn’t you have plans to be making?” Try as you might, you couldn’t stop the tension, the bitterness, from worming its way into your voice. You heard the sharp inhale of breath from behind you, able to picture the questioning look on Elias’ face perfectly. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked again, more intent this time as you resumed sitting on the couch, this time on the far end from where the two of you sat before.

“Elias. I’m fine.” Avoiding his gaze on your face, you picked your book back up and kept reading from where you left off. The silence was heavy between the two of you as Elias stood there, dumbfounded as he looked at you. Finally, he realized you weren’t going to look up at him any time soon and he padded away into his bedroom. 

When the sad strains of a guitar being played hit your ears, you put your book down again, tucking your limbs into yourself as you settled into a ball on the couch. You had hurt his feelings, your overreaction to his idyllic life, and the worst thing was that you weren’t sure if you completely regretted it. 

—

The next week was weird, to say the very least. Instead of going to bed with Elias, snuggling with him as he slept during the day, you stayed in the living room with your books. When he started trying to stay awake all day to spend that time with you, neglecting his need for rest and encroaching on the space you needed to be grumpy, you started going outside. Here, Elias couldn’t follow you and you were finally granted the space you needed. At first, you could sense him watching you through his bedroom window, eyes watching the sun dance across your skin, but you didn’t acknowledge him. After a few days, he no longer watched you through his window before falling asleep, ignoring the fact you were even out there.

In the evenings, you locked yourself away in one of the spare bedrooms, spending most of the time staring at the walls around you. For a while, Elias paced back and forth in front of the door and you could hear his lips brushing together when he readied himself to say something, anything, to you. But as the time passed, you heard him shut himself away in his own room, the sound of the guitar making its way down the hallway to your ears.

It was the worst week you’d had since moving in with Elias, starting a new life with him. No longer the nomadic vampire you were merely months ago, you had him by your side constantly. But now, your emotions were getting the best of you and you couldn’t even appreciate the fact you had him, that he was your family. You wouldn’t allow yourself to. All you could do was think about how he had his family, how he never had to lose what you had to. And then the cycle of negativity and grief started all over again.

—

“You haven’t drank in a week, I can tell. Now either open this door and come get your mug or I’ll bust the door down.” Elias said from outside your door, two days before his Thanksgiving gathering. 

“I’m not thirsty,” you argued, rolling your eyes at yourself for sounding like such a petulant child.

“Please don’t make me break this door down,” Elias answered quickly, as if he was expecting you to say something like that. “Come on, princess, you really need to drink. And we need to talk.”

With a sigh, you climbed out of the bed and unlocked the door to the bedroom. It opened slowly, revealing Elias’ face. His eyes were guarded, tense, but softened when he finally saw you. You stared at each other in silence for a moment before he guided you to the kitchen. Wordlessly, he handed you a warm mug - his favorite, you noticed - and sat down across the table from you. 

“Thank you,” you whispered, knowing your normal speaking voice would be too loud for this situation.

“It’s no problem,” he assured you, eyes studying you as you drank. 

And then it was quiet again, eery. The atmosphere was cold and uninviting, the exact opposite of what you were used to in this house. Elias still looked guarded but hurt at the same time, barely concealed in his eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” you finally blurted out, pushing the mug away from you. “I’ve been awful to you this whole week and you didn’t deserve that. I’m so sorry.”

“What’s been going on with you, princess? You’ve been drawing back for so long…Do you want to leave?” Elias looked upset at the prospect, but you knew he would let you go if that’s what you wanted. 

“No!” you nearly shouted, lunging forward to take his hand in your own. “I don’t want to leave. Ever. You’re stuck with me until you decide to let me go,” you assured him, offering a half smile. “I just…The holidays are a weird time for me. And ever since I was turned, I was able to forget about my family and what I was missing around the holidays. But then I found you and you’re so different, your life such a contrast to mine but we still fit, we still get along so well. And I was starting to feel normal, being here with you. But then you got that phone call about the Thanksgiving gathering you have with your friends and it hurt that you got to have your family, celebrate with them and maintain your traditions while I couldn’t even find anyone to be with for so long before I found you. And I was feeling sorry for myself, I guess, and I just needed some space, needed to work through it, I guess.”

It was silent as your words settled and Elias let it all process. And then his hand was tightening around yours as he stood up and moved over to your side of the table, pulling you into his arms. Your fingers tightened in his shirt, grasping handfuls of the fabric as he held you close. 

“I’m so sorry you felt like that for so long,” he murmured into your hair, arms tightening around you even more. “I never even considered what this get together would be like for you. I was just excited to introduce you to my friends, to celebrate with you. But if it’s too hard for you, I can cancel and it can be just me and you.” At that, he separated from your embrace, pulling back to look you in the eyes. “You’re my family, princess, I hope you know that. And I hope you feel the same way, so I don’t want you to feel like you’re alone. Not anymore. Not with me.”

The prickling behind your eyes was back, and all you wanted in that moment was to be able to cry. Instead, dry sobs racked your body as you moved back into Elias’ arms, crushing him to you. “I love you,” you sighed, tucking your head into his neck. 

Elias stiffened in your hold momentarily before his hands went to the sides of your face, tilting your head up to him. “I love you, too.” And then his lips were on yours and the universe righted itself again. 

—

For hours afterward, the two of you discussed your human celebrations for the holidays. You told him all about your family’s huge spread, how every year you forgot ice and had to send a cousin out quickly before dinner. There was always at least one heated game of Uno with the cousins while all the adults settled around the table and napped and watched football. It was the one time of year that you could see all your family members, the ones scattered all around the country. It was a great time every year and you looked forward to the annual celebration. 

Elias, on the other hand, had a more lowkey family celebration. His consisted of only his immediate family, all cozy and gathered in his house. He spent years side by side with his mother the night before Thanksgiving baking a pumpkin pie. It’s his favorite dessert and something he looked forward to every year. He hadn’t had one since he was turned and had to leave his family behind, but he was fine with it. He found his new family, his friends, and that was all that mattered to him. 

By the time your discussion was over, the sun was up and Elias grabbed your hand, leading you to his room. He was exhausted, you could tell, and he told you sheepishly that he hadn’t been sleeping well for the past week as he was so concerned about you. Now, though, he settled into bed easily with his arms wrapped around you and fell asleep quickly. 

You watched him as he slept, thinking about what all he told you about his own family holiday traditions. The fact that he’s missed out in his favorite dessert for years stuck with you, even though he made it sound like it was fine. Still, when he rolled over in his sleep, you climbed out of bed, intent to do something special for him. He deserved it for opening his home, his life, to you and for dealing with your whirlwind of emotions for the past week. And you knew just what would show him you appreciated him. 

—

Baking was harder now since you couldn’t rely on your tastebuds to tell you how things were coming along. Instead, you had to settle for just using your sense of smell. You followed the recipe you found to the letter, precisely measuring each ingredient and hoping beyond hope that the pie turned out well. 

Just as you were pulling it out of the oven, sniffing the air to see how it worked out, Elias walked into the kitchen. He stopped short, mouth agape as you placed the pie on the counter. 

“What’s this?” he finally asked, walking closer to you. 

“I um. Wanted to do something for you. And this way I contributed to this little gathering tonight, too. I hope it tastes okay, I followed this recipe I found but I don’t know-“ you rambled, wringing your hands together as you looked at the pie in front of you. 

Before you could finish your thought, Elias wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close, pressing a kiss to your lips. His eyes glimmered in the light of the kitchen as he pulled away, a soft smile on his face. “It looks perfect. Thank you.”

Hours later when all of his friends arrived, he introduced you to each of them individually. You sat right by his side during the meal, laughing and joking with all of his friends while they ate and reminisced on their long lives lived. Looking around the table, you realized that you did have a family, even if they weren’t what you so fondly remembered from your human life. This family was different, more eccentric, but you wouldn’t trade them for the world. 

As Elias reached for the pumpkin pie in the center of the table, he caught your eye. The smile on his face widened when he saw the smile on your own face, one hand grabbing yours that you left on the table. He kissed your knuckles softly, squeezing your hand before turning his attention back to his pie.

This was exactly what you had been missing in your life, what you refused to think about for so long. And now with Elias, you knew you would never have to face the world alone. Not anymore. Never again.


End file.
